


liar, liar

by BunniesofDoom



Series: Marianne Vi Britannia [2]
Category: Code Geass
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Cisswap, Family, Female Lelouch, Friendship, Gen, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending, Introspection, genderbent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28507200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: In the face of all that, what's one more lie?
Relationships: Kururugi Suzaku & Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia, Milly Ashford & Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia, Nunnally vi Britannia & Kururugi Suzaku, Nunnally vi Britannia & Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia, Nunnally vi Britannia & Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia & Kururugi Suzaku
Series: Marianne Vi Britannia [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1383769
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	liar, liar

**Author's Note:**

> Character study featuring fem!Lelouch, named Marianne in this AU. I might have gotten the order of some of the events in this wrong, as it's been a while since I watched the anime. Content warning for mentions of canonical character death.
> 
> Enjoy!

Marianne hadn't always been such a liar. Contrary to popular belief, there had once been a time where she hated telling lies in any form. Whether by accident or on purpose, little white lies or big lies to cover up secrets, Marianne avoided them at all costs.

After all, her mother had always hated when her children lied to her. Attempts to hide the truth from Empress Marianne would reliably be met with harsh punishment. She still remembers how furious her mother had been when she and Nunally had broken Euphie's plate—and then more importantly, lied about who had been at fault.

Her mother didn't like lies. She didn't tolerate liars.

And Marianne adored her mother. She never wanted to make her upset.

But then, her mother dies—is murdered—right before her very eyes. And Marianne comes to the sudden realization that her entire life up to this point had been nothing but lies.

Her mother had said that she loved them, and would always protect them; now she's dead, and Marianne will never see her again.

She and Nunally had thought they were safe, surrounded by people, growing up in the palace; now Nunally is gravely injured, body torn apart in the center of their so-called sanctuary. And she won't open her eyes. Marianne no longer feels safe no matter where she goes, no matter how many people insist that they won't let whoever killed her mother get to her as well. She knows better now than to trust the fleeting promise of safety.

Her father had claimed to love her mother; in the aftermath of her death, he refused to investigate the matter or punish any of the culprits. He'd just swept the matter under the rug and forbade anyone to comment further on the matter.

And lastly, her father, the Emperor, had claimed to care about all of his children; he'd tossed her and Nunally aside like they were no better than trash when Marianne, in her righteous indignation, dared to ask the questions that no one else would. And nobody had done a thing to stop him, or even question his decision. Cowards, the whole lot of them.

Filled with a burning hatred for their fake so-called family, Marianne decides that she no longer wants any part of this charade. She tells her father as much.

In response, her father banishes her and Nunally to the other side of the world.

Looking at where the truth got her in the end, Marianne comes to a decision. Their entire lives are filled with so many lies, have been since the second they were born onto this earth, so what's the point in fighting it? Maybe sometime, in the distant future, Marianne could build a different world, in which being honest might actually get you somewhere, but for now, might as well embrace it.

After all, she thinks bitterly, it's not as if her mother is around to scold her for telling falsehoods anymore.

So, she lies.

She lies to her sister. She lies about why they're being sent to Japan, she lies about how grim their future looks, and she lies about how scared she is. She reassures her sister with pleasant niceties that are ultimately meaningless. When she sees the conditions that they're expected to live in—that old shack is barely fit to put livestock in, let alone a pair of children—she turns it into a paradise in Nunally's mind. With her words, she builds a palace in Nunally's mind, a fantasy of what their lives should look like instead of the ugly, dirty, reality.

Sure, her little sister manages to see through her falsehoods sometimes—a lot of the time, if Marianne is being honest with herself, which she actively tries to avoid—but her carefully crafted world of words makes her sister smile. And there's so little to smile about these days.

Along comes Suzaku Kururugi.

Despite being the son of a politician, it seems that this boy has somehow never learned the truth about the world. Or the necessity of falsehoods. He's painfully sheltered, optimistic, and brutally honest, demolishing Marianne's carefully built world of lies with a careless statement. Listening to him talk makes her teeth ache. Looking at him makes her eyes hurt.

She hates him pretty much from the moment they meet.

Or does she?

For some reason that Marianne will never understand, Nunally adores the boy. She loves his accent, his stories about Japanese culture, his blunt way of speaking. She loves exploring with him on the grounds and getting filthy as they chase birds and fish and bugs. Even though it goes against everything in Marianne, it makes Nunally happy. And her sister's happiness has always been paramount. So, she grits her teeth and puts up with this clueless boy who wouldn't understand the ways of the world if they smacked him across the face, like she's often tempted to.

And somewhere along the way—she stops hating him as much?

Sure, he's still painfully dense, and annoying, and loud, but in a world full of liars he's almost refreshing to talk to. His anger at his current situation is relatable, and in a rare moment of honesty she has to admit that it's nice to be able to talk to someone her own age. She's never had a friend before, but she thinks that she likes the idea.

When she tells Suzaku that she's going to destroy Britannia someday, it's the most honest she's been in a long time.

And then Britannia invades Japan, and everything falls apart.

Suzaku is strange after his father's death. He's suddenly much more willing to put up with Marianne's lies, when he'd never shown much tolerance for them in the past. Death changes people—Marianne can attest to that—but there's still something off about him that she can't quite put her finger on. She's pretty sure that friends are supposed to talk to each other about things like this (and they are friends, after all), but it's not like she has a lot of time to think about it when they're just trying to stay alive from day to day.

She never does get a chance to bring it up before they arrive at the Ashford's, and they part ways: Nunally and Marianne to stay and take shelter with the family, and Suzaku to join the Britannian military. As she hugs her friend goodbye, Marianne wonders if she'll ever see her friend again. It is the military after all, and she isn't stupid.

"Do you think that we'll ever see Suzaku again?" Nunally asks her anxiously after he leaves.

"I'm sure we will," she reassures her sister, sure of no such thing.

Ashford Academy brings with it a new set of challenges, and with them, a whole new set of lies.

To the other students, Marianne pretends to be just like them. She pretends to be just another bored rich kid here from the mainland, a loyal Britannian citizen who parrots the political beliefs of the Emperor. Like she didn't complete the equivalent of a high school education when she was nine, and that she couldn't pass most of these classes in her sleep. Well, she does let herself sleep through some of her class periods, but that's just to keep up her bored student cover.

To Nunally, Marianne lies about the fact that they don't have a future here. As fugitives of the Britannian Empire, what future could they possibly have? Either they live a low-key, pointless life, keeping their heads down constantly and watching their backs, or their identities will be discovered and they'll either be arrested or forced into being pawns for their father again. Neither option is appealing. But Marianne smiles at her sister and pretends to look forwards to graduating.

Milly Ashford is the closest Marianne comes to having a confidant. Both of them know a fair share of each other's secrets, the result of doing favors for one another. But even Milly doesn't get to know the truth behind all of Marianne's lies.

When they're alone, with no one around to overhead them, Milly drops her happy-go-lucky cheerful mask and complains about her family's attempts to use her to social climb via an arranged marriage.

"It's just so old-fashioned, you know?"

Milly is pretty, and popular, and Marianne could easily name half a dozen boys that would go out with her in heartbeat, but her family has forbidden her from dating.

Marianne complains about constantly having to keep her head down, and the constant boredom she feels pretending to be a student. She keeps her fears for the future to herself. Milly and her family have already done them enough favors.

"Poor little genius girl," Milly says in mock-sympathy, pinching her cheek. Marianne glares lightly at her. "At least you finally made some friends. I never thought I'd see the day."

Her new friends are the result of Milly forcing her to join the student council. Marianne complains about it often, but it is nice to have a group of people to hang out with, and the extra work at least gives her something to do. She's still keeping up a charade, but at least the charade is a bit more interesting now.

Student council duties keep her busier these days, along with her new gambling habit.

It starts off as just a way to save some money to put away for the future, and as a way pay back some of the debt she owes the Ashfords, but she's quickly addicted to the satisfaction of knocking the nobles down a peg. Nothing gives her a rush more than walking into one of those big, fancy settlement houses and watching her latest opponent immediately write her off because of her schoolgirl uniform—only to wipe the floor with them once the game begins.

And then C. C. comes into her life, and everything changes.

Suddenly Marianne has the power she always dreamed of. If she thought that her words were powerful before, now she can change the world with a simple sentence. She can make empires fall with a single command.

And she fully intends to.

The rest of her life falls to the side as she embraces her new abilities. Classes become useless background noise, council meetings become elaborate exercises in finding creative excuses to leave early, and she entirely ditches her chess matches. There's no time for gambling when she has a world to rebuild.

A kinder, gentler, world, just like Nunally wished for.

Of course, the lies continue to pile up, but she's long past the point of feeling guilty about that, so she's not about to start now. Marianne is in the process of building a new movement, a revolution.

"I am Zero, the Man of Miracles!"

In the face of all that, what's one more lie?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.


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